


In Your Orbit

by quicksilvermalec



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Feelings, Getting Together, I love you babe ;), Love, My babies are in love, Other, Protective Data, Sick Geordi La Forge, Sickfic, eNJOYYY, gay relationships, this is for GreenVeal's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 06:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21489526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilvermalec/pseuds/quicksilvermalec
Summary: When Geordi gets injured on a mission thanks to a refusal to take care of himself, certain secrets come to light.
Relationships: Data & Beverly Crusher, Data & Geordi La Forge, Data/Geordi La Forge, Geordi La Forge & Beverly Crusher
Comments: 12
Kudos: 152





	In Your Orbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreenVeal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenVeal/gifts).

> This is for the lovely GreenVeal's birthday because she's one of my best friends and I don't know where I'd be without her. She asked me to write her a Geordi/Data fic so I did a little research and now I'm obsessed. Can't say I regret it, though.
> 
> Enjoy!

Data had been very content to be Geordi’s best friend as long as they had known each other. They had always had a very easy relationship, and Data found he understood Geordi better than he did most people. He did not truly know what love was, but he believed that if he loved anyone, it would be Geordi.

“What is love?” he asked Counselor Troi in their session. She simply smiled at him, jotting something down on her clipboard in her beautiful, elegant script.

“Is there a particular reason you want to know?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he replied. “I believe I may love Geordi, but I will require further data to confirm this theory. One piece of data I shall require is a definition of love, as well as a description of the emotion.”

Troi looked at him fondly. “Well, love is defined as ‘an intense feeling of deep affection’, but I don’t think that’s a very accurate definition. Love is like thinking about someone all the time, wanting to be near them, wanting to hold them, wanting to see them smile, wanting them to be happy, even above your own wants or needs or happiness. Love is like knowing you would sacrifice everything that matters to you for another person and knowing that you’d be grateful for it if it meant you got to see them smile. Does that answer your question?”

Data nodded slowly. “I believe it does,” he murmured.

&^&

“_This is Doctor Crusher to Lieutenant Commander Data. Please report to Sicbay immediately_.” Data tapped his comm badge.

“Data to Crusher, I’m on my way.”

He aborted his route back to his quarters, taking a sharp right to detour to Sicbay. When he arrived, Dr. Crusher was waiting for him with Geordi in tow. “He asked for you,” she murmured, nodding at the officer sitting on the examination table. Data turned his attention to Geordi.

“I overreacted,” Geordi said before Data could say anything. “I have a cold, apparently, but I didn’t know _what _it was, so I freaked out, came here, and asked Crusher to examine me. I just have a cold,” he repeated. Data took his hand and helped him to his feet. His skin was warm.

“Why did you call me?” he asked.

“Cause you’re my best friend, Data,” Geordi replied, as if it were obvious. “And because you’re an android, you don’t have an immune system, and therefore I won’t be endangering the crew so long as I stay in my quarters and you take care of me.”

Data smiled. “I would like to do that very much. I will ask the Captain if I can have the next few days off until you have recovered.

Geordi smiled. “Thanks, Data.” They continued the walk back to Geordi’s quarters in a comfortable, friendly, amicable silence.

&^&

“Computer. Soup, chicken noodle, 61 degrees Fahrenheit,” Data commanded. A moment later, a bowl appeared in the replicator and he brought it to Geordi. “Do you need anything else? A blanket, for example?”

“A blanket would be nice. Some pain medication, definitely. Maybe some drowsy cold syrup, I need sleep.”

“How long has it been since you slept?” Data asked.

“About two days. I was working late shifts in Engineering and then last night I just couldn’t get to sleep for the life of me. It was awful.”

Data handed Geordi his blanket before going to the replicator again for acetaminophen and NyQuil. “You should not take so many late shifts, Geordi. They are not benefiting your health.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m the Chief of Engineering and someone’s gotta do ‘em, don’t they?” Geordi asked rhetorically. “It’s not like this happens all the time, it’s rare. Ish.”

Data handed his friend the two bottles and said, “rare or not, it is not good for you and I would prefer it if you didn’t do it.”

Geordi took them, dry-swallowing two of the pills before looking back up at his friend. “Alright,” he says. “I won’t. And thanks, Data. I’m gonna try to get some sleep now.”

Data smiled. “Good. I will stay here and watch over you.”

“Kay. See you in a few hours.”

&^&

“We need Lieutenant Commander LaForge for this mission,” the Captain insisted. “He may be the only one with the sufficient skills to decode and deactivate that machine down there.”

“I have told you, Captain, Geordi is in no condition to fight. He can barely leave his quarters, and he barely has in the last two days. He is not coming.”

“No, it’s alright,” came a new voice from the doorway. “I’ll come.”

“Welcome to the Bridge, Lieutenant Commander,” Riker greeted with a friendly smile. “How’s it been?”

“Painful. Tiring. A lot of soup,” Geordi offered. “And now I’m _fine_, Data, and I can come with you on this mission.”

“Geordi-” Data began, but Geordi cut him off.

“I said that I’m alright, Data, okay? They need me so I’ll go.”

Data looked at him skeptically but didn’t say anything else against it. Instead, he just turned to the Captain and said, “request permission to be placed on this assignment so that Lieutenant Commander LaForge does not – _respectfully _– get himself killed.”

“Permission granted,” Picard replied grimly, but with the slightest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. Data smiled back at him before joining Geordi in the doorway. He took his friend’s arm just above the elbow and led him off the Bridge and toward the transporter room.

“Data, I don’t need your help, I’m alright,” Geordi insisted, but Data didn’t let go.

“Geordi, you are very pale. You are breathing hard, you are struggling to remain upright, and you are perspiring more than usual. You are quite obviously not fine, and I will not leave your side until you are,” he replied matter-of-factly.

Geordi looked at him gratefully. “Alright,” he finally conceded. “Thanks, Data.”

“You do not need to thank me. I am simply doing what any good friend would do.” They rounded the corner to the transporter room. “I promised that I would take care of you and that is what I intend to do.”

&^&

“This is Lieutenant Commander Data to Enterprise, two to beam directly to Sicbay!” Data shouted urgently into his commbadge, his hand on Geordi’s uninjured shoulder.

They phased back into the Sicbay and Data immediately grabbed Geordi and helped him walk to a bed. Crusher was at his side in an instant. “What happened to him?”

“He took a phaser hit in a desperate and futile attempt to protect me,” Data explained tersely. This tension and tightness and hyper-awareness in his body was the closest he’d ever come to feeling anxiety.

“You okay?” Geordi asked him weakly. He stared at him.

“I am fine, Geordi. You did not need to get hurt on my behalf. I would have been able to protect myself.”

“But I wanted to,” he muttered, his eyelids sliding closed.

“You acted extremely foolishly and without any sense!”

Geordi opened his eyes. “Why do you sound so angry, Data?”

“Because I love you, Geordi, and I do not enjoy seeing you in pain.” As if to prove his point, Geordi winced in reaction to Doctor Crusher’s light prodding.

“I love you too,” Geordi replied. “You’re my best friend.”

Beverly chuckled weakly in response to that, seeming to understand what Data was trying to say despite the fact that Geordi could not. She shook her head.

“No, Geordi,” Data said, trying to figure out how to get through to him. “I believe myself to be _in love _with you. I would like to pursue a romantic relationship if you are interested.”

Geordi sat up quickly, then lay back when Crusher shoved him down by his head. “Hell, Data, I’m more than interested. I’ve been interested for a long time. I love you too.”

Doctor Crusher folded up her tricorder and cleared her throat. “I think I’ll leave you two alone. This isn’t too serious of an injury, I can tend to it later, since I do have other patients and you two have something… obviously important to discuss.”

They walked to Geordi’s quarters in silence, but once they arrived, Data said, “I hope I did not make you feel awkward. I simply felt the need to make it clear to you exactly how I feel, so that you might understand me better.”

In response, Geordi brought his hands up to cup Data’s jaw and kissed him gently. It was an interesting sensation, but not an unpleasant one; it made Data think of things like family and home and safety, it made him _feel_ – and he was still getting used to the idea of having feelings – as though he was valued. As though he was loved.

Geordi pulled away from him, laughing a little at his stiffness. “Data, when someone does that and you’re interested in them too, you’re supposed to kiss back.”

“Of course,” Data quickly amended. “How do I do that?”

“Just try to mimic what I do,” Geordi told him, and then the warm, light pressure of Geordi’s lips was back on his own, and Data decided to push back, to attempt to do what Geordi had told him to. He followed Geordi’s movements and recreated them perfectly, and when Geordi was breathing hard afterward, he felt accomplished.

“Are you still sick?” he asked. Geordi nodded.

“Definitely still sick. But now I have a boyfriend who’s willing to take care of me.”

“Boyfriend?” Data inquired amusedly. Geordi shrugged.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t object to the label.”

“I do not,” Data replied, smiling at his boyfriend. “I most certainly do not.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was pretty fun to write - I got it all written in four hours - so I hope you enjoyed it! Comment and tell me what you thought.
> 
> Love,  
-Fake Dean | Sil


End file.
